Starstruck: Hands of Time: Starstruck: Hands of Time – Achievement Guide/Walkthrough

Guide last updated: Game version 20240922.4

Starstruck: Hands of Time is a truly hidden gem to me and I really enjoyed my time with the game. After doing my first playthrough, I noticed that I hadn’t gotten all the achievements and there is no easy to find guide for the game. As such I thought I’d take it upon myself to try and make one to help those out who also would like to see everything the game has to offer.

The Story of the game is split into 3 separate rows of levels: One is for when you play as Edwin, the main protagonist of the game. The second is for Dawn, the secondary protagonist and the third is for the Hand destruction levels where you, as the captain of the ship, send your own hand to terrorise poor civilians and wreck havoc onto the unsuspecting neighbourhood (trust me going around destroying all those buildings is 100% necessary for the future)

Since the levels themselves don’t have names, this guide will refer to them as either Edwin-X, Dawn-X or Hand-X. X represents the order it is on the timeline, so the first square of the top row would be Edwin-1, the second square along the bottom row would be Hand-2 and so on. You can also replay levels anytime before the Point of No Return including going back to specific times in that level, allowing you to skip replaying the full level if you need to find something specific.

I’ve structured the guide as a walkthrough, so that you could make a brand new save and follow along finding everything as you go. Whenever the game gives you multiple choice for which level to enter, I always tried to go for Edwin first, Dawn second and then the Hand sections. While you can save some backtracking by doing things in a certain order, this is never mandatory and many of the guitars + trashcans can be found at multiple different times during the game.

The game also has a few secrets and other neat details that might be missed, so I’ve added some notes throughout the guide about them even if they aren’t mandatory for the achievements.

Note: I’ve tried to limit story spoilers as I can, but some stuff may be spoiled if using this guide during a blind playthrough.

To start let’s explain all the achievements that you can get:

Clear the game. Pretty self explanatory. There is one point where you can choose to Abandon the Mission, and this may not give you the achievement.
(To be safe choose to “Continue the Mission” when prompted)

All of these are skill based achievements, so there’s not much I can help you with here. Practice the songs and get good I guess. Even if you obtain an ending, you can still enter Freeplay with all songs available once you’ve beaten the game.

(God help you if you’re trying to A rank Children of the Moon 3 on Expert with Keyboard and Mouse)

As of the time I played this, there is only one song part of the “More” section so head to Freeplay anytime after Edwin-2 and beat the song “Bob’s Garage” on any difficulty.
(This may change in future updates if they decide to add more songs)

Both of these are not that difficult as you get prompted back to the Ship multiple times throughout the game, and both Chat.exe and the Trash folder will be highlighted with an exclamation point whenever there is something new.

All you need to do is exhaust all the chat options whenever Hadley wants to talk to you in Chat.exe, and look at every piece of artwork in the trash folder as they appear. I got these both on my first playthrough and didn’t need any guides to get them, so it mostly comes down to just remembering to clear them out. I haven’t tested whether some artworks are missable if you don’t destroy specific things during the Hand sections, so I’ll mention those as they appear.

Note: One of the chat conversations is past the Point of No Return, so you won’t get the achievement until after then.

One of the harder achievements; you have to interact at least once with all 24 trashcans hidden throughout the game. While some are easy to find, there are others that require specific steps to find or are quite well hidden

The rest of the guide will help detail the locations of all 24 trashcans. As long as you don’t enter the Point of No Return (you’ll know when this is), you can replay levels as you wish to find any you missed.

Note: I’ve numbered the trash cans throughout the guide, but the order you find them doesn’t matter at all and they are only numbered to keep track of them.
(Some trash cans will let you interact with them multiple times if there is something inside them, but you only need to do it once for it to count)

The same goes for this achievement. There are a total of 13 guitars throughout the game, with some being given automatically as part of the story while others requiring side quests to find. You need to have 10 guitars on the wall (2 are equipped by Edwin and Dawn) to find the final 13th guitar. Finding all guitars also requires finding all trashcans, as one of them is locked behind it. Since some of them are very sneaky and well hidden, I will detail how to get each one when they are first possible to get.

You can only get this hidden achievement past the Point of No Return, and you need to have found all Guitars + Trash Cans before starting it so you can do a special interaction at the finale of the game. The details will be in “The Finale” section

After entering your name and registering your own hand, you’ll talk with Hadley, the AI of the ship, and learn that you are tasked with saving the future by investigating what happened in the past with someone called Subject A11 and “The Mold”.

Before launching Neighborhood.exe, there are a couple of conversations you can have with Hadley by selected the “Chat.exe” option:

• The Earth
• Hadley
  • Memories (appears after Hadley)

Note: I’m not sure how many chat topics remain as you progress through the game, so to be safe I would just exhaust all the options before moving back to the neighbourhood sections.

You will know you are good when Hadley says he has no more topics to discuss, and the Chat.exe program has no exclamation point on it

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Once done talking to Hadley, launch Neighborhood.exe and begin your adventure.

This will be the first time you take control of Edwin, one of our main protagonists. You’ll be seeing him a lot.

It’s worth mentioning that as you explore the town, there is a lot of optional dialogue you can get by interacting with the doors of houses, talking with NPCs and generally just interacting with everything at least twice. A lot of it changes frequently between levels, so it’s something to keep in mind if you’d like to experience everything the game has to offer. (Doing this is usually optional, I will try to mention any time you have to do this)

Note: This part of the game heavily limits your exploration of the town as Zach, his friend, will constantly stop you from going anywhere and reminding you to go to the concert. As such, this part will only mention what you can find now

After taking control of Edwin in his house, you can find some easy to miss dialogue if you go under the stairs and interact where his parents mention Edwin is adopted. (This isn’t required for anything, I just thought it was funny.)

For the achievement, you need to interact with every single trash can at least once. If the trash can has no interact prompt then you’ve gotten it, except if something is inside the trash can. If something is inside, then you only need to interact with it once and it will count for the achievement.

Trashcans 1 and 2: Directly outside Edwin’s House. Hard to miss

Trashcan 3: On the right street from Edwin’s House, outside the White House (This white house will be important later)

Trashcans 4, 5 and 6: A group of them are bundled together in front of the Yellow House with the blue roof, just south of Edwin’s House.

Trashcan 7: In front of the Blue House left of the Guitar Shop

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While you can’t obtain any guitars yet, you can make preparations for two of them as early as Edwin-1. However, this is a spoiler as you aren’t meant to know where the location of one of them is yet. If you’d like to see how you’re supposed to figure it out naturally, then it is best to skip this part as you can replay the level later on and get it then.

Next to the Guitar Shop is a girl called Betty who is looking for her Gold Guitar, and asks you to help find it. Usually you will forget about this side quest and move on.

During the night part of Dawn-2, you can find someone who has the Gold Guitar and tells you that he found it behind the guitar shop last night. Any further talk will just result in him claiming “Finder’s Keepers” and there is seemingly nothing you can do to get the guitar off of him. However, it is a key point that he mentions he found it “last night”. During Edwin-1 it is actually the “previous night” and so the guitar will still be behind the guitar store since he hasn’t found it yet.

Interacting with the back of the guitar shop during Edwin-1 will reveal the Gold Guitar, which you can tell Betty about and bring it back to her. This will then allow you to get both the Broken Guitar and the Caltronic Icarus (golden guitar) later down the line.

There is also a third guitar that you can find now from a hint given in a future level, but you aren’t able to collect any guitars yet as Zach will refuse to let you pick any up until after a certain point later down the line.

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Once you are ready, head towards the Factory and continue the story by talking to Bully. You’ll be denied entry, and so Hadley proposes a solution to let Edwin enter the concert and change the past.

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• Subject A11

• all.bmp
• dscord.url (this just brings you to the official starstruck discord and isn’t required for the achievement)

(When it comes to the Artwork achievement, the same rules apply as the chat topics. Just check any piece of new artwork that appears in the folder whenever there is an exclamation point before continuing with the story)

Now you’ll be introduced to the Hand smashing segments, where you can walk around as a giant hand and basically destroy the entire town. While most stuff will be “fixed” by Hadley afterwards, there are a few things here that are required for future collectibles:

Watermelon: Destroying the Watermelon here will cause a new artwork to appear in the trash folder after the mission (Untested if this is required)

Bowling Ball: Running into the bowling ball to the right of the factory will move it, allowing access to an area behind it for the future (Untested if this is required)

Once you get the hammer, you should hold off on going for the nails and instead head to the east side of town where the two houses are (or were). Right next to the Portable Toilet is a grey rock that is seemingly just decoration but you must destroy either this rock or the one on the other side of the white house during Hand-1.

Without doing this, you miss out on one Trashcan as the rocks will always block your way into the White House unless one of these rocks are broken. You can always replay Hand-1 to do this though, and the rocks will stay permanently broken for any future level.

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After having your fill of destruction, smash the nails in front of the factory with the hammer before the time runs out to complete the level and return to the ship.

• wow.bmp
• juicy.bmp (may require watermelon being smashed)

After that, the next part of Edwin’s story will be unlocked.

You’ll regain control of Edwin, and may notice the Town looking a little different. Thanks to your rampant destruction, multiple trash cans are now available to find during this level:

Trashcan 8: From where you smashed the nails, instead go right towards where the Bowling Ball is and enter the area beyond (assuming you moved it during Hand-1). Keep going left past all the trees until you reach the area behind Edwin’s House. One of the Trashcans is hiding in the far left corner here.
(You can use the big yellow house as a shortcut back to the street if you wish)

Trashcan 9: If you successfully smashed the rocks during Hand-1, they will now be broken and you can enter the area past them. For whatever reason, the owner of this house will refuse to open the front door and asks you instead to go through the side door. Now that the rocks are broken, make your way past and enter his house. You’ll find an artist making a sculpture, and also a trashcan hiding in the corner.
(You can visit him later to see his progress on the sculpture)

Trashcan 10: One of the more sneaky ones. Before entering the factory, instead head around the back of the building and you’ll find a seemingly random interact prompt. This is actually a trashcan, and counts for the achievement.
(You can actually see this trashcan later on if you ride the train)

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This is everything you can find for now, so continue into the factory for the concert where you’ll meet Dawn, Lucy and the band. Play some songs, watch the cop bust the concert and then you’ll be back in the ship once again.

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• Subject A11 (this is a different conversation than the previous Subject A11 topic)

• show.bmp

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At this point you’ll now have the choice of either Edwin-3, or playing from Dawn’s perspective. The order in which these missions for the most part doesn’t matter, but for consistency I always aimed to do Edwin’s sections first before Dawn. This saves having to replay Dawn-2 due to an interaction needed in Edwin-4.

Also this will be the time you can unlock the “No More of More” achievement, as the song “Bob’s Garage” will unlock in Freeplay mode. This can be done at any time though, so feel free to either play it now or save it for later.

(Whether this is the only song in the More section may change in future updates)

This is a much shorter segment as Edwin explores the deeper parts of the factory with Zach. 2 trashcans can be found here, and the area is blocked off in the future so this is the only point in time in which these 2 trashcans are obtainable.

You also get introduced to Dodge Notes here, which will be used in many other songs in the rest of the game.

Trashcan 11: Hard to miss, it’s directly on the path going forward right as you start the level, and before you talk to the frog.

Trashcan 12: Before going up the stairs, instead walk towards the screen and head right. You’ll see Frog’s Brother here, as well as another trash can.
(It isn’t required to talk to him here, but his quest will be useful later)

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Now you can go up the stairs and have your first interaction with Ozwald and “The Mold”. After the song, the two will escape the factory and you’ll return to the ship.

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• aaaa.bmp

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Since you unlock Edwin-4 here, I chose to go straight into it before doing Dawn-1. As mentioned earlier, the order isn’t important as you’ll have to do them at some point anyway.

The first time you enter this level might be a bit strange, but don’t worry Edwin is just sleeping and I’m sure he’s perfectly fine. Hadley, who is always thinking of our wellbeing, skips ahead to when he is awake which means you’ll have to select Edwin-4 a second time to enter it properly.

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This level is the first time you get true freedom to explore the town (assuming you are doing the levels in the same order I am), and there is a lot of stuff we can do now. To start, we will interact with all the trashcans that weren’t available to us during Edwin-1.

Note: As mentioned previously the NPCs and Houses all have new dialogue as the game progresses, so it can be worth exploring around knocking on the doors of houses, interacting with stuff like the Phone Booth and whatnot. None of this is necessary unless directly mentioned.

While interacting with Trash cans there is a chance that something is inside one of them, and this seems to be random per save file. I found the “Lake Shack” picture in a different trash can in my second playthrough than my first, and I don’t know how random this generation is.

There are 3 possible objects that can be inside trash cans: One is a Rubber Duck, the second is a Rotten Blueberry, and the third is a picture of the Lake Shack which reveals how to open the door and get inside. That information will be useful later.

Trashcans 13 + 14: Following the southern edge of town, you can find the Train Station past the lake. Two trashcans are located on the platform.

If you stand still on the platform when the train arrives, you can ride the train and be given the option to travel to four other locations. Riding the train is not required for any achievement.

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Trashcans 15 + 16: Left of the Police Station are two more trash cans outside the Dark Yellow House and around the corner.

Trashcans 17 + 18: Two more are across the street on the west side of town, right next to the yellow house with the red roof

Trashcan 19: Another sneaky one. Next to Dawn’s House (right of the building blocks), this one is only visible if you walk into the corner where the “Save the Statue” stand now is. The camera will move and show the trashcan hiding in the corner.

Trashcan 20: Little less sneaky, this one is just on the sidewalk minding it’s own business. Easily visible from the street behind the Police Station.

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Since we can’t collect Guitars yet, now is the time to continue the story and head to the Guitar Store where Zach promises to pay Edwin for a new guitar (since he lost it in the factory). You’ll have the option to pick from several guitars, so just pick the one you like as there’s no difference between them.

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Harz V-2: Unlocked by default

Yanni AS01: Unlocked by default

Daltone JZES40: Unlocked by default

Dawn’s Guitar: Unlocked by default, however can’t be selected as Edwin as the guitar seller is holding onto it for her.

There is another guitar that can be available here, but it is only possible if you found a different guitar in Edwin-1. This part will be spoiler hidden in case you skipped that part as you can just get it later.

Broken Guitar: This one will be on the wall if you found the Golden Guitar during Edwin-1. The actual golden guitar isn’t available yet, but will be in the future

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You’ll then be treated to another surprise Mold appearance, and need to resolve it with song. If you’re finding these parts weird, then I hope you strap in because that’s definitely not the last time it’ll happen.

After the Guitar shop sequence and you are able to leave, it’s now possible to collect guitars found elsewhere around the town and add them to the wall inside the guitar shop. This marks a good time to go around and grab them now so you don’t have to do it later. You’ll be directed to look at the moldy statue, but just ignore it for now.

(If replaying this level, choose 11:17am)

Hyland Elite: While exploring, you may have come across one of the trash cans that contained the Lake Shack picture. From this, the text will reveal that the door only opens if you push on it for 30 seconds, which is quite literal in that you need to run into the door itself for 30 seconds.

You don’t need to sprint into the door, just continue walking into the door itself for as long as needed. Eventually the door will open, and you’ll find a guitar in the corner plus a flashback sequence to when Dawn and Edwin first met Preston and Logan. Afterwards, you can pick up the guitar and add it to the collection.

Entering the shack is possible from Edwin-1, but Zach will never let you pick up the guitar until after the Guitar Store sequence.

Polestar: Another place you can revisit is the factory where the concert took place. It has instead now been fashioned as an art piece with Dominos lined across the room. A seemingly deliberately placed guitar is at the end of the row, so it is only natural that you rebel against art and push the Dominos. After pushing the Dominos multiple times, they’ll fall over and you’ll be able to pick up the guitar.

(It’s possible to do this at almost any point in the future, this is just the earliest it can be done)

Hopper Classic: After collecting the previous two guitars, you can head back to the Fountain to investigate the weird mold growing on it. However, you’ll be interrupted by Frog’s Brother who wants your help to cheer up Frog at the lake. Talk to him instead of the people at the fountain, and accept his request.

Once he starts following you, head south towards the lake and go onto the pier where Frog is. Play a song for the poor depressed frog, and you’ll be rewarded with thanks from Frog’s Brother. What he also mentions is that the lake is entirely fake and can just be walked on.

After he says that, just start walking on the lake itself and interact with the Lily Pad. The guitar is hidden underneath, and then you can add it to your collection.

Note: While I’m not 100% sure, I believe helping Frog here is very important to achieving a possible second ending after the credits. If you want to get the second (better) ending then make sure you’ve done this part.

This is also the only time that you can get this guitar, so you’ll need to replay the level if you missed it.

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In order to get a future trashcan, you should visit the Prison before heading back to the statue. Dawn is in prison for trespassing in the factory, and you can jam with her here now that you have a guitar. While it’s possible to visit her earlier in the level, you need a guitar to play with her.

If you miss this then you’ll need to replay the mission to do it now, since it’s needed to unlock a future interaction with Edwin while playing as Dawn.

(The trash can inside the cell will taunt you with it’s presence, but we can get this soon.)

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That’s everything you can find for now, so return back to the Moldy Statue and watch as it repairs the head of Ozwald, before proceeding to fly into the Manor. You’ll be prompted back to the ship after trying to cross the incredibly small puddle blocking the way, which for some reason can’t just be jumped over.

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• A11’s Memory
• Ozwald VI
  • Ozwald VI (second conversation)
  • Richard Wagner
    • Richard Wagner (second conversation)
• Draaiorgels

• friends.bmp
• edwin.bmp

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At this point if you haven’t already done Dawn-1, then this is the point it becomes mandatory.

This’ll be the first time you get to play as Dawn, and from this point you’ll likely be switching back and forth between both Edwins and Dawns POVs as the game progresses.

This is a pretty short segment though, and shows Dawn being imprisoned by her mother for trespassing in the factory. You’ll also properly meet Lucy here, who is definitely a “good girl”. Don’t ask how cardboard guitars make that sound though.

The skeleton in this cell, Mr Bones, has a bunch of different interactions throughout the rest of the game if you visit him. Some of them are quite funny imo so you may want to try coming back to the prison at different points to see him.

Trashcan 21: Right in the middle of the jail cell. Hard to miss.

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After Dawn laments about feeling trapped in a cage, Hadley asks you once again to use your powers of mass destruction to help Dawn break out of jail. This unlocks the next hand section.

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• Dawn

• dawn.bmp

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If you chose to do Dawn-1 before the Edwin sections then you can go back to do them now, or just continue with Hand-2. It’s entirely up to you.

Your next destructive rampage introduces another tool at your disposal: The Screwdriver. This section isn’t as strict when it comes to future collectibles, but does hold some important things:

One thing you might easily miss is that at the very beginning of the level, the Mailman always (tries) to throw something into the bush directly outside Ozwald Manor. While this seems like nothing at first, it’s actually a hint that something is there. Keep this in mind for later.

Building Blocks: This seems to be mandatory since the Hammer always spawns past them, but you will need to destroy these to gain access to the area beyond it later.

The Moles: Once you grab the Hammer, hit both of the moles rising up and down next to it for an Artwork (untested if required)

Golf Ball: Next to the train station is a golf ball on a SeeSaw. Hit this with the hammer to cause it to fly into the air and land in a hole, granting you a Hole in One. (Not required, but you can see the hole in one flag in the distance for future levels which is a neat detail.)

Once you destroy the cop car using the screwdriver, the level will be complete and you’ll return to the ship.

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• Life on the Moon
• Captain’s Comfort

• mole.bmp (may require hitting both moles, untested)

Completing this level unlocks both Dawn-2 and Hand-3 (if Edwin-4 was done already), so for consistency we will go to Dawn-2 first.

Due to your actions in Hand-2, the bully will be framed for destroying the police car and sent to jail. This doesn’t matter though because this freak of nature can break a jail cell door without much effort, and this lets Dawn break out of prison.

Note: The dialogue during the Day part of this level is different to when it changes to night, and NPCs + houseowners have different things to say about her in prison clothes than later on when she changes out of them.

Before heading home, there’s a couple things we can grab now:

Shabby Guitar: As Dawn you can enter the guitar shop and take back her guitar, meaning this one will be moved onto the wall for Edwin to use.
(While you don’t have to take Dawn’s Guitar back, I think it makes sense she’d want it back after escaping prison)

Fern’s Guitar: If you remember the Mailman from Hand-2, something was thrown into the bushes outside Ozwald Manor. While I missed this in my first playthrough, it’s actually a hint that a package was left there and can be picked up as either Edwin or Dawn.

Go up to the bush and interact with it, and you’ll find a leftover package that can be opened for a new guitar. Picking up this guitar will add it to the collection

(This package will sit here for any future levels past Hand-2, but can’t be found before that as the mailman hadn’t delivered it yet)

While not overly important, you can learn here that only Edwin understands frogs by trying to talk to the frog at the lake as Dawn.

Trashcan 22: Where the building blocks are on the east side of town, you can now pass under them to get behind the houses. Doing so reveals a Trash can behind the yellow house

(The fact the building blocks spell “Hadley was Here” is kinda cute. Also you can use the yellow house as a shortcut to the street now, although it’s not really needed)

Trashcan 23: To find the next one, talk to Edwin who is on the bench outside the manor. If you played with Dawn in prison during Edwin-4, then you’ll be able to play with him here again as Dawn. (personal note but this song is peak music, it’s so good)

Once done, Edwin will say he is no longer embrassed or hiding anything, and that she can freely enter his room. Previously, Edwin would always refuse to enter the corner of his room and Dawn would not enter his room due to a promise they made. With that no longer applying, you can go back to Edwin’s house and walk into the area to the right of his bed.

You’ll find some artwork on the wall, and also a very sneaky trashcan.

(Note: If you haven’t done Edwin-4 yet or didn’t visit Dawn in prison after getting a guitar, you’ll have to do that and then replay this level to get this trashcan)

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Once done exploring, go to Dawn’s house (the one right of the building blocks) to continue the story as she talks to her brother Victor.

After some sibling rivalry, a concussion and the mailman, Lucy suggests trashing Ozwald Manor. Dawn will change clothes, and you’ll come to the night part of Dawn-2.

Note: There are quite a few interactables inside Dawn’s house, but I didn’t find anything special about most of them besides just zooming in closer. The chair in the room with the handcuffs does project a shadow that looks like The Tree that is mentioned multiple times by Dawn and Victor, but other than that most of the stuff seems to exist just to look at them better.

Leaving the house out of prison clothes, the time changes to night and a few things unlock because of it. Stuff in this section can either be done now or later with Edwin-5. We will do them now since we can.

(If replaying this level, go to 10:12pm as thats when it changes to night)

Caltronic Icarus: In a regular playthrough, you’ll find someone near the fountain who is wielding a golden guitar. They’ll tell you that they found it behind the guitar store last night, and that “finder’s keepers”. At this point in time, there is nothing you can do to get the gold guitar off of him, but it’s a key point that he mentions “the night before”.

What you can do instead is travel back in time to when it was the previous night, and find the gold guitar before he does. This means you’ll need to replay an earlier level, which I chose to do Edwin-1 at 9:15pm.

Interact with the back of the Guitar Store at this time and you’ll find the golden guitar, which you can then tell Betty who will be very happy to see her guitar. (yeah hope you remembered that she was actually looking for it) She promises to reward you the next night.

Once she has it, you can now travel back to Dawn-2 at 10:12pm, and talk to Betty who has turned into a gold statue. Once interacted with she will fall over, and you can take the guitar off her hands to add it to your collection.

Broken Guitar: Once you’ve found the Golden Guitar during Edwin-1, this guitar will become available as soon as Edwin-4. However, since you didn’t get the hint yet about where it was this would be the time you would actually discover it and thus have this guitar added to the collection.

For reference, these two guitars were the ones mentioned in the spoilers during Edwin-1 and Edwin-4.

If you remembered about the artist in the White House east of town, he said his sculpture would be finished by the next night. You can now visit him once more to find he’s made himself into a sculpture. He doesn’t do anything, but hey he finished it I guess.

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There’s different dialogue around town now that Dawn has changed clothes, but once you are done exploring head towards Ozwald Manor to interact with the puddle and be brought back to the ship to solve it using the power of mass vandalism

Your job this time is to hit a baseball on a pillar with a Baseball bat, your newest tool in causing widespread homelessness (Don’t worry, Hadley has your back). Nothing here is mandatory to destroy for collectibles.

Yellow House: The house left of Edwin’s House is special int that you need to screwdriver it multiple times to finally destroy it. Not important for anything but it was surprising.

Golf Ball: You can hit the Golf Ball near the lake yet again to cause another Hole in One.

Baseball Bat: This thing destroys stuff way better than the hammer so if you want high scores then use this as soon as you get it.

Once you’ve hit the Baseball, it will roll over onto the puddle and cover it up, allowing our protagonists to finally overcome their fear of an exceptionally small gap.

• Homesickness

• ball.bmp

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This will be the point now that you’ll have to make sure you’ve done both Dawn-2 and Edwin-4 in order to progress to the next part of the game.

Both Edwin-5 and Dawn-3 take place at the same time-frame and thus the final trashcan and guitars are obtainable in both levels. As such you can play either of these levels in any order, but since we have kept to it so far I will enter Edwin-5 first.

Similar to Edwin-4, you may experience a strange dream sequence the first time you try to enter, and is totally not foreshadowing something bad happening. We don’t want to waste any time so Hadley generously helps us once again by skipping to when he’s awake, which means you’ll have to re-select Edwin-5 to enter it properly.

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If doing this level before Dawn-3, this will be the time to collect the final trashcan and guitars to complete the collection:

Trashcan 24: The final trashcan is hiding behind Ozwald Manor. After passing the small puddle, head along the left size and move towards the vines. Walk past them and head behind the manor.

If this is the final trashcan you found, then this one will have a special interaction that lets you climb inside it. Doing so will teleport you across the map far away from the town into the northeast corner of the “map”.

(As far as I know, this will happen as long as it’s the final trashcan you interact with, so it doesn’t have to be this specific one if you missed some of the earlier ones)

After exiting the trashcan, you’ll be awarded the “Trash Can Opener” achievement.

Flordia Guitar: Once you’ve found the secret trashcan area from interacting with all 24 trashcans, this guitar will be on the ground to be picked up, along with an unusual crack in the wall. Upon trying to collect the guitar, the Mockingbird will pick it up and drop it in the middle of the street. Return back through the trash can and find where he dropped it off to collect it properly and add it to the collection.

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However, this won’t yet unlock the achievement as you first need to talk to the Guitar Seller once the wall is filled up completely. If he mentions that you’ve found 10 guitars, you’ve done it right.

This will lead to a sequence where he tells you that he is aware of the truth of this world and The Mold, leading to him spending his life creating the ultimate tool to combat it: The Gleambringer. He will also mention that you need to press a special key when the time is right.

Note: You should probably either write down or remember what key it is to press. On keyboard and mouse it is “V” but this’ll be different for controllers.

Upon collecting the guitar, it’ll be added to the wall with the rest of the guitars and you’ll unlock the “Xplorer” achievement.

(Note: In my playthrough I used Dawn to collect Gleambringer, but I believe Edwin can also trigger this sequence)

Before leaving, make sure that either Edwin or Dawn have Gleambringer equipped as you’ll need this guitar for the secret achievement. You can do this at any time before the Point of No Return but afterwards you won’t be able to change guitars at the guitar shop so it’s best to do it now.

There will be a point where you can decide whether to use Edwin’s guitar or Dawn’s guitar during the Finale, so it’s optional who has it equipped.

You can talk to the Frog on the pier by the lake here, since only Edwin understands frogs.

It’s also possible to visit Lucy and Dawn at her house (the one right of the building blocks), but Dawn herself is asleep and there’s nothing else to do there besides have a conversation with Victor and Lucy.

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Assuming you already got the trashcans and guitars, there is nothing left to collect so head onwards into Ozwald Manor through the front entrance.

You’ll yet again deal with The Mold and Ozwald, who is preparing for “The Great Concert” and trying to recruit Edwin to his cause.

(If you’re like Zach then you probably have no clue what nonsense Ozwald was saying)

TL;DR Ozwald is mad people rejected him because he copied other people’s work, and wants to bring about a new age with The Mold.

After some singing statues “Praise the Mold”, this part will end and you’ll go back to the ship.

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• Ozwald’s Words
• Space History

• ozwald.bmp

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With that our next stop is Dawn-3, where we see her side of exploring the manor.

Some of the dialogue here around the town is the same as Dawn-2, so you don’t need to talk to everyone this time.

(You won’t need to do the trashcans or guitars here if you did them during Edwin-5, but if doing it first then you should check Edwin-5 first and follow the same steps but as Dawn)

For our case, we have found everything already so we can head straight into the manor for the story.
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Trash the manor, escape Dawn’s mother, get haunted by another creepy Mold sequence and Lucy helps out before the Mold escapes into the cemetery. Also the mockingbird has some crazy dance moves here.

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• History of Music

• dawn2.bmp

(Viewing this last artwork should unlock the achievement “Culture Enjoyer”)

Note: There is one final conversation topic past the Point of No Return, so you won’t have gotten the Captain! achievement yet

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Once both Dawn-3 and Edwin-5 are completed, you’ll unlock Edwin-6 and the start of the endgame.

Edwin-6 is incredibly short and just consists of Edwin + Zach meeting up with Dawn + Lucy, and then trying to enter the cemetary. Since the door is locked, it requires one final time for you as the captain to wield your power of The Hand and open it up.

Once you start Hand-4, however, YOU ARE LOCKED INTO THE ENDGAME. Hadley will also warn you about this, but you will no longer be able to replay any levels, change guitars or collect trashcans/guitars. It will be a non-stop trip all the way to the finale and endings. Ontop of this, your save file can’t be used to replay previous levels once you get an ending, so this is the moment to check everything.

If by this point you haven’t found all guitars and trashcans, then you missed some and should replay previous levels to see which ones you missed.

For Guitars, you should have:

• Harz V-2
• Yanni AS01
• Daltone JZES40
• Dawn’s Guitar
• Broken Guitar
• Hyland Elite
• Polestar
• Hopper Classic
• Shabby Guitar
• Fern’s Guitar
• Caltronic Icarus
• Florida Guitar
• Gleambringer (once all the rest are found and you talk to the guitar seller as Dawn)

(Remember that 2 of them are going to be equipped on Edwin and Dawn, so not all of them are on the wall)

To check your progress, going to Dawn-3 is a good point as that is a time when you should have all guitars. You can use pictures in this guide to see which ones you are missing and go from there. As for trashcans there is no way to check if you missed one besides the fact you didn’t interact with one and find a portal inside of it, and thus find the Florida Guitar.

The best bet would be to go through every trashcan in this guide one by one, and double check if you interacted with it or not.

It is also important that if you want the secret achievement, Make sure either Edwin or Dawn has the Gleambringer equipped. This will be the final chance to equip a guitar on the wall, so you should make sure at least one of them has it. Otherwise, you won’t be able to get the secret achievement and will need to replay the game to do it.

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Have you noticed by now that whenever you load your save and the ship computer boots up, it reads “IIOJJOPA?” This is just “Apollo 11” backwards. I’m sure some people saw this right away but I thought it was worth mentioning because it’s a cool detail nonetheless.

Even the title music is both a reference to the Moon Landing, and lists Richard Wagner as one of the contributing artists in the Official OST (the same composer that Ozwald stole music from).

Someone smarter than me will definitely be able to dig through this game and find all sorts of hidden secrets I completely missed.

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Once you are absolutely sure of everything, you can start Hand-4 and begin the finale. You’ll probably want to set aside at least an hour or more to clear it in one sitting, just because there will be multiple moments the game won’t let you pause.

Note: There will be some spoilers at this point, since it’s the final stretch of the game. If you want to play this part more blind, here is the minimal spoiler version of what to do at this point:

• Check the final chat.exe topic when it appears
• Choose to Continue the Mission (don’t abandon)
• When you reach the point where you meet Victor, remember to press the special key for the Gleambringer before playing your guitar to get the secret achievement.
• After the credits roll, there are two choices for endings. One is heading straight forward, and the other is heading towards the left.

Otherwise, feel free to keep reading:
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After opening the gate during Hand-4, the Mold will directly attack your hand and the ship. This means your hand is completely stuck, and time travel becomes impossible. As such every other level becomes locked, and you are forced to continue into Edwin-6 with no other options.

(You’ll also notice the Hand has completely become a statue outside the graveyard once you regain control of Edwin)

Above the tomb of Ozwald, there is a latin phrase: “Nomen Mihi Ozymandias, Rex Regv Respice Opera Mea, Vos Magni Et Desperate”. This is a quote from the 1819 sonnet “Ozymandias” that reads:

“My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!”

(Another detail for the lore theorists to sink their teeth into)
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You’ll now be in the finale part of the game, which has a lot of walking and weird visuals. It’s very linear, so this is just something you’ll have to experience because the developers certainly had fun making it.

You’ll be treated a lot of imagery of going in circles (the whole “snake eating it’s own tail” references aren’t subtle) and also a lot of references to how works of art, structures and civilisations have all copied things from the previous civilisations.

After Ozwald is done trying to recruit the crew towards The Mold and you return to the ship, you’ll have the final chance to talk to Hadley before continuing:

• Your Hand

(This should be the final conversation topic and unlock the “Captain!” achievement)

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You’ll then be directed to Dawn-4, although this doesn’t mean much anymore since there is no other level to pick from.

A neat detail is that on keyboard and mouse, you can’t use Enter or Backspace anymore and must use Z and X because you’d press those keys with your right hand and it’s currently stuck as a statue.

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At this point, Hadley will alert you that the damage to the ship will eventually cause you to de-orbit the Earth and crash into it. As such, you now get the major choice to either Continue the Mission or Abandon the Mission.

Choosing to Abandon the Mission will cause Hadley to send an override to the past that makes it so the mission never happened. In other words, THE GAME WILL DELETE YOUR SAVE FILE. It’s a very unsatisfying ending so just avoid this at all costs and choose to Continue the Mission.

(When I say delete, it will literally fully delete the save file, so unless you made a backup it’s gone completely. It’s not really worth seeing yourself, but you can make a backup save file and then overwrite a different save file with the backup. Saves are located in the steam directory, userdata, under the “1054950” folder)

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Once you regain control of Dawn, go towards the guitar dropped on the ground. This is Edwin’s guitar, and now you have the choice of picking it up and replacing your current guitar. Make sure that the guitar Dawn has is the Gleambringer. She will need it to get the secret achievement which is coming up. If you miss this chance then you won’t be able to swap back and are stuck with the current guitar you have.

Other than that you’ll get to see Ozwald’s Magnum Opus before being subjected to another walking section (another not so subtle reference to going in circles). The 1969 Moon Landing is also heavily referenced multiple times, so good luck to any lore theorists cause this game is packed with references about Apollo 11 and The Moon.

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Explore the new Moldy paradise that Ozwald has created and look for Lucy in one of the houses (she’s hiding in her mother’s house if you remember which one that is. There’s only so many houses so you’ll get it eventually)

The next part is linear and best experienced yourself, so just keep going through until you reach the part where you can talk with Lucy and Zach. Avoid playing the guitar until after you’ve done the next part.

Personal note: it’s really cool seeing all the physical props they made for the game. So much of the stuff you see had to be made in the real world and I really respect the effort they went to for this game.

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You’ll get to a point where Victor joins up with the group and they plan to play one final song atop The Mold. DO NOT PRESS THE BUTTON TO PLAY GUITAR JUST YET.

This is the time the Guitar Seller mentioned that would be the final moment with The Mold. To get the secret achievement, press the key that he mentioned while wielding the Gleambringer and standing at this location (on keyboard and mouse, this button is “V”. I’m not sure what it is on other controllers)

If done correctly, Dawn will use Gleambringer and you’ll be treated to a unique cutscene. You’ll have to see for yourself what it contains but it’s 100% worth it.

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Once the song ends and the credits roll, you’ll get to control Edwin one final time and make a final choice. I will spoiler hide this just for anyone scrolling through the guide and doesn’t want to see it just yet.

Ending 1: Ozwald will offer you the choice to have your name engraved upon the wall, and be molded for all eternity. Walk up to the guitar and interact with it to submit your name. Whatever name you picked at the beginning of the game will now always be on this wall, and other players will see this name if they reach this same part of the game.

Ending 2: There is a second choice however. Move to the left and you’ll find Frog here, moving the wall. If you’ve helped him in the past (specifically played him a song at the Lily Pad during Edwin-4), then he will offer you a second chance. Take it to get the second ending, which out of the two is the much better ending but you don’t get your name on a wall so happier ending or name on wall, your choice.

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With that you’ve beaten the game. Regardless of which choice you picked, your save file is now locked and nothing can be done with it anymore. You still have full access to Free Mode however, so you can replay previous songs you did and score better on them.

At this point the only achievements you should have left are “S Rank”, “A Ranker” and “Expert of A”, depending on how well you did during the game itself.

You may also need to do “No More of More” if you didn’t play any Freeplay songs during the game. If you missed any others then you’ll have to do a new playthrough to get them.

I don’t normally make guides so I hope this was presented in a way that was easy to read and wasn’t confusing for the locations of things. I think for the Guitar locations a video format would be better, but I will leave that for someone else to handle.

If I’ve missed anything major or there’s a mistake with the guide, feel free to write in the comments about it and I’ll fix what I can. There’s a lot of things I wasn’t able to test since you can visit levels in a variety of different ways, and I’m quite happy with my 2 playthroughs so I don’t intend on doing a third run unless there’s an update to the game.

Otherwise thanks for reading and please tell more people about this game 🙂